Oil Prices Hold Gains Despite Major Crude Inventory Build

The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build this week for crude oil of 7.757 million barrels, compared to analyst predictions of a 1.367 million barrel build. U.S. crude inventories have shed some 72 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 14 million barrels since the start of 2020. In the week prior, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 1.080 million barrels after analysts had predicted a draw of 1.558 million barrels. Oil prices were trading sharply up on Tuesday on a number of bullish catalysts…